Onto my third week of marathon training and I must admit that a little bit of doubt has started to creep it’s way in. I’ve started this plan with relatively low mileage due to the distinct lack of miles already in my legs and feet, I knew that starting with too much too soon would have been the death of me. All of that being said, I just can’t quite fathom how I will be able to run / walk / shuffle 26.2 miles come April. (So, SO thankful to be doing it with the rest of my Adidas marathon training squad, I know that it will really help on the day!)

The rational side of me is saying ‘trust the process’. I might not be running far yet but I am running consistently and that is something totally new to me. I also have the support of the best coach and he’s checking in with me weekly and if he’s not worried then I know I shouldn’t be worried. But yet…

On top of the irrational worrying, I’ve also come to realise that my left foot has a slightly flatter arch than my right, which is potentially the cause of some sharp pins and needle like pain that actually got pretty bad early on in yesterdays run and then magically disappeared, just before I thought I was going to have to stop and catch a bus. It’s also the foot that suffered a stress fracture a couple of years back, it’s funny when you start to realise just how much everything is linked and that an injury in one place could be the result of an imbalance or weakness somewhere completely different in the body. I’m also massively quad dominant which for me means a super strong vastus lateralis and a comparatively weak sartorius and vastus medialis… In layman’s terms – I really need to work on strengthening my inner thighs in order to keep my knees and everything else safe and happy. Thankfully I’ve recognised these weaknesses early on and have already started rehabbing / prehabbing by spending time daily activating my arches and my adductors with various different exercises.

When you’re doing so much running (obviously this is relative) I feel like it’s such a fine line between fit and injured and this is especially dangerous when you know you’re the type of person who doesn’t like to quit.

Yesterday was a turbo & strength training day but today I’ll be back out there pounding the pavement for another intervals set, probably around 5 miles in total, maybe a bit more if I’ve gotten any quicker – a girl can hope! I then have 10 miles on the plan for this weekend, or as close as I can get to it in 80 minutes… After two rather mehh runs in a row I’m hopeful that the next couple will be awesome!

How’s your marathon training going? How do you teeter on that tightrope of training enough and not getting injured?

Editors note – I only went and flippin’ did it!! Read my full report here!